The alleged tribal confrontations that recently erupted at Otjinene in the Omaheke region, if indeed are found to be ethnic tensions as many are asserting, are strongly condemnable and very unfortunate.
Otjinene, a sparsely populated constituency of about 7 000 inhabitants, was on Monday this week rocked by violent clashes following the death of a local Omuherero man, who was allegedly killed by five Aawambo men last week.
The suspects have since been arrested and are set to appear in court.
The killing of the local man and the widely perceived injustice triggered hundreds of residents to launch a fierce protest by burning down makeshift trade stalls belonging to the Ovazemba, Aawambo and various groups of illegal migrants, who the locals claim mainly hail from Angola.
Apart from the burned trading stalls and fierce protests, threats were allegedly also made to non-Ovaherero tribes, who were told to leave Otjinene or face persecution and risk losing their homes at various informal settlements there.
Various law enforcement clusters including the regional police as well as political and traditional leaders, have all since intervened in the matter and relative calmness has now returned to the usually peaceful settlement – although small murmurs of discontent remain in some pockets of the community.
When one closely and intricately listens to the locals, it becomes clear the root cause of their grievances and fury is the alleged unregulated inflow of undocumented immigrants, mainly from southern Angola, which primarily consist of groups from the Ovatue, Ovakuvale, Ovazemba and Ovahakaona sub-tribes.
The Otjinene inhabitants have complained that the undocumented immigrants, who are scattered across villages within the constituency in search of employment opportunities from local communal farmers and businesspeople, have become a concern to their safety.
It is also claimed that once the immigrants face the harsh reality of no prospective economic opportunities, they in most cases, resort to stocktheft and other criminal activities for survival.
And while the merits and demerits of the recent tension remains an issue that will be further argued and properly quantified based on the outcome of ongoing police investigations and the eventual determination of the court, what is clear is that the real bread and butter human-centred issues remain unanswered and the usually peaceful community relations are now skewed. Otjinene is a small but rapidly developing area where economic opportunities are limited and communities have for centuries sustained their livelihoods through the preservation of scarce but vital assets such as land, livestock, housing, natural resources and cultural cohesion. These are things that have kept them together.
And just like all other small and developing parts of Namibia, Otjinene faces its fair share of challenges, which include limited economic opportunities, lack of land and housing for all, lack of water and electricity for all its inhabitants and a historically skewed political environment.
It is thus historically and ontologically understandable and expected of the residents of Otjinene or any other society faced with a similar situation to display anxiety out of fear of the unknown. That being said, taking the law into their own hands cannot be condoned; there are channels to settle such matters amicably.
No matter the circumstances or situation we may face as Namibians wherever we may find ourselves, we should never at any point allow our judgement and national outlook to be narrowed down to the low-slung and historically destructive ‘isms’, which include racism and tribalism – but more specifically tribalism.
Lessons learnt are that the challenge to democracy at home and in Africa at large, is not the prevalence of ethnic diversity, but the use of identity politics to promote narrow tribal interests. In short, this is what tribalism is made of.
Given our own long, brutal and complex history as a country and looking at events of nation-building in various African countries over the years, it becomes clear that much attention has been devoted to removing autocrats and promoting multi-party politics, and building equitable sustainable, tolerant and democratic societies.
But in the absence of efforts to build genuine political parties and traditional authorities that advance progressive and unifying ideas, Namibia could revert to tribal identities as foundations for political and ethnic superiority.
What we are witnessing in many parts of our country are leaders who are exploiting tribal loyalty to advance personal gain, parochial interests, patronage, and cronyism. Tribes must be built on democratic and progressive ideas, not on zero-sum competition.
That why is Africa, Namibia included, whoever is entrusted with a key leadership position spends most of his or her time on tribal balancing rather than on economic management and advancement. It is because most of our leaders rely on manipulating ethnic alliances, which brings factional animosity into government business.
Where we stand as a nation, it is becoming clear that issues such as infrastructure, energy, transportation, food and youth employment are emerging as common themes irrespective of ideological differences.
Therefore, the way forward lies in concerted efforts to build modern societies founded on development ideas and not tribal bonds. Namibians want solutions to their problems, not ethnic politics and manipulations.
One of Africa’s most iconic anti-colonial activists and late Tanzanian President Julius Kambarage Nyerere already cautioned us in 1969 that: “We can try to cut ourselves from our fellows on the basis of the education we have had; we can try to carve out for ourselves an unfair share of the wealth of the society. But the cost to us, as well as to our fellow citizens, will be very high. It will be high not only in terms of satisfaction foregone, but also in terms of our own security and well-being. If real development is to take place, the people have to be involved.”
Let us heed this call.